Beastly tales: Rewriting human history

By Bob Holmes

ACCORDING to the history books, the Madeira archipelago 600 kilometres west of Africa was discovered in 1419 when Portuguese mariners were blown off-course by a storm. In Roman times Pliny and Plutarch wrote about islands that might be Madeira, but there is no definite account of the islands, nor any signs of people, prior to the arrival of the Portuguese. The mice of Madeira Island, however, tell a different and unexpected story.

The mice are not native to the island and must have arrived on European ships. Genetically, they most closely resemble the mice of Portugal. However, some of their DNA has strong similarities to that of mice found in Scandinavia – a strong hint that Viking ships found Madeira long before the Portuguese. “It might have been a temporary occupation, or just a few boats landing for a short period of time,” says Jeremy Searle, an evolutionary biologist at the University of York in the UK and an author of the study (Heredity, vol 99, p 432). “But the mice are telling us something that no artefact so far has told us.”

Madeira’s mice are not an isolated case. Like spies in the halls of history, our animal and plant companions hold lost secrets about our past. Through their genes we can trace the paths of ancient migrations and trade routes, and sometimes unpick the knot of successive waves of colonisation. Plants and animals can also help archaeologists date the origin of some of the major innovations of human culture, such as the first use of clothing and the beginning of high-density urban living. They can even help researchers glimpse the motives …

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